Ending, beginning, and getting it right

(MCT) — We hope you enjoy reading this. Heck, we hope you’re able to read this.

Of course, if you are, then you’ve passed the first real test — which is surviving the Mayan calendar.

Today is, after all, the end of the world, according to the supposed, long-term prediction that was etched in stone (or papyrus or cowhide?) some 5,100 years ago.

Those crazy Mayans. They may have been great temple builders but they weren’t much for prognostication. After all, you are reading this, right?

It’s all pretty complicated stuff, debated through endless interpretations. We can tell you, not a single scholar espouses the theory and even the Mayans themselves scoff at it.

Since today, Dec. 21, 2012, actually began for most people on the planet a number of hours ago, chances are we’re all going to make it.

Believers in biblical scripture will tell you that no one knows when the final hour will arrive. That said, it probably would pay you to straighten up and fly right.

For that matter, how much better our world would be if we all did that, every day? No wars. No shootings. No fiscal cliffs.

It would be Heaven on Earth.

A fair number of people have besieged NASA for answers — NASA of all places — like the space administration has some sort of crystal ball. It does, of course, have rockets that go places and maybe that explains the wave of interest.

Not surprisingly, there is a segment of humanity out there that believes the end of times is upon us. They’ve stockpiled their goods, loaded up their weaponry and dug their foxholes. Let’s hope they don’t shoot themselves in the foot during the process.

Most of us are going to plod on, going about daily life, fighting the good fight, praying for our fellow man when necessary and — hopefully in the words of Oz himself — being “good-deed doers.”

Love everyone as you love yourself, we say, and do it like there’s no tomorrow.

This editorial appeared in The Telegraph, Alton, Ill., on Friday, Dec. 21.